northumbrianreflections

Yesterday was warm and bright and despite the high winds that buffeted parts of Britain in recent weeks, there was still some semblance of colour in the autumn leaves, most of which now deck the ground, leaving the bare trees, a sure sign of winter.

 

Leaving the fabulous old Tudor farmhouse where I’d stayed at friends overnight, blue skies and sunshine accompanied my drive through the beautiful Oxfordshire, Cotswold stone villages and countryside. Reflecting on a phenomenally busy November, I was thankful for those moments and days of rest and reflection, drawing on the wisdom of the monastic tradition in the way of life embraced within our Community, of learning to be a contemplatives in a world of action.

Incredibly busy and demanding weeks, and Saturday conference speaking engagements have been punctuated with opportunities to travel with Shirley and enjoy time together with friends in the snow capped hills of Scotland, a late rooms, (3 hours notice!) overnight stay in a hotel by Ripley Castle and a further special deal to celebrate her birthday at a delightful spa hotel, where we were joined one evening by other members of the family.

So I was in good heart yesterday and the weather outside reflected my feeling that, “all was well with my soul”. Locked in meetings with friends and leaders within the Baptist Union, discussing serious and weighty matters, my spirit remained calm, if not upbeat by the close of our deliberations that evening.

Journeying to stay with the family overnight, (and taking another opportunity to be with some of our grandchildren) I turned on the car radio and listened to the debate in Parliament over whether Britain would engage in bombing as part of its war with Isis. I arrived in Oxford just in time to hear Hilary Benn and Philip Hammond roundup and conclude the debate.

  

The commanding performance and remarkable oratory of Hilary Benn earned him applause from both sides of the house, (a feat that is rarely witnessed in the House of Commons). Having read many and listened to some of his father Tony Benn’s speeches, Hilary clearly possesses a remarkably compelling way with words, as did his ‘old man’. His speech was riveting, politically elevating and remains impressive in the cold light of the following day. What his father would have made of it is beyond question; he might have been impressed, as I was with the impressive delivery, but he would have refuted it soundly. Thanks to Nick, my son in law, having listened to Hilary, we then listened to his father Tony’s speech opposing war in Iraq. Equally compelling, brilliantly delivered but vehemently in opposition to bombing our enemies. See: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/03/hilary-benn-speech-syria-labour-mps-war and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPL-IaFpcZA and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfXmpJRZPYI

When the inevitable results came through following the debate and a massive majority ensured that the Government’s motion to bomb Syria would be carried, I went to bed with a heavy heart. The concluding words of evening compline, “the peace of all peace be mine this night” no doubt helped me to sleep well but seemed hollow upon waking this morning and hearing that we had already deployed four RAF tornadoes to carry out what will be the first of many airstrikes in Syria and the consequent loss of many innocent lives.

       

The idea that you can defeat the enemy on the ground by bombing them from the air is militarily nonsense. I just can’t believe that we have engaged in a bombing campaign. Have we not learned anything from the mistakes made in respect of bombing in Iraq and Afghanistan?

We have committed over £60 billion on arms, bombing and fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and yesterday’s airstrike, (each one of the missiles costing over £100,000) triggers further expenditure, which to my mind is madness and does little if anything to promote peace. We can’t find funding to care for the sick, elderly and vulnerable in our society; we have people dependent upon food banks to feed themselves and their families; we can’t afford to take in many refugees fleeing from war zones, homeless and destitute but we can spend billions on weapons of war. America has spent over $1 trillion on the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Wow! Imagine that sum of money, together with our £60 billion being spent on feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, funding aid and development of nations across the world, countering the environmental destruction of the planet we are creating and fanning the flames of peace not fuelling the fires of war. How many enemies would we have made had we ‘blessed’ rather than bombed? It was Albert Einstein who said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results“.

I know the situation is incredibly complex and cannot be viewed through the lens of conventional warfare. There are myriad groups within Syria, many conflicting and fighting small armies, some aligned with the ruling Assad regime, others fighting Isis or other factions. The Americans have been bombing for over a year and what has it achieved? Conservative estimates tell us that Isis, during that period, has recruited in the region of 10,000 new members. Bombing for groups like Isis, acts as a ‘recruiting sergeant’ for such terrorist organisations. The Americans reckon that they have killed over 15,000 people but Isis has not shrunk, it’s actually grown in numbers and influence since bombing commenced.

There has to be a strategy that involves more than the political gesturing and military tokenism of bombing. The spurious claims that there are in the region of 70,000 people who could form an opposition army to Isis, will, I believe, turnout to be as potentially damaging to David Cameron as Tony Blair’s deceiving Parliament over the spurious reports of Iraq being able to deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes against Britain and America. It was a key feature of the dossier about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction that was released by Blair in 2002. He published the information to bolster public support for war. Similarly, the 70,000, ‘army’, is in fact the sum total of many so called ‘moderate’ groups. There are at least 120 different groups among this potential army, many with differing aims and objectives. Some of them have as few as 100 members. They are factions, splintered and most of them are limited to a narrow geographical area, hundreds of miles from where Isis is operating. The one thing that these groups do share in common is in opposition to President Assad’s regime. Their main focus is fighting Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian army. To think that they will divert their attention away from their main focus, to somehow rally around to David Cameron’s new opposition army is ridiculous. The idea that some of them are moderate is also ridiculous; many of them share the same ideology of Al Qaida!

As Julian Lewis, the Tory chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee said in yesterday’s debate, drawing parallels with the discredited intelligence in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq; “instead of dodgy dossiers, we now have bogus battalions of moderate fighters”.

So herein lies the source of my disquiet; I am deeply grateful that we live within our society where we are able to freely debate such issues and thankful that we have a democratic system of government. However it is incumbent upon those who seek to serve as our representatives in Parliament and who are given titles such as “The Right Honourable Member” that they behave honourably. To persuade is one thing, to manipulate and deceive is something very different. To fail to listen to the voices of those who those members of Parliament represent brings discredit to the House of Commons and undermines the democratic process. We now know, what millions of us at the time knew, spoke out against and marched in protest for, was that the millions of British people were opposed to the way in which we intervened militarily in bombing Iraq back in 2013. Crass stupidity, blind belligerence, self interest, vengeance, together with poor leadership and political gain seeking led to an illegal invasion of Iraq that has stirred the hornet’s nest in the Middle East, fuelled the fires global conflict and recruited hundreds of thousands to the cause of global terrorism which poses one of the greatest threats to human civilisation across the world.

I drove through Witney last night on my way to Oxford and I earnestly prayed for the Prime Minister who has spearheaded this campaign to bomb Syria. He carries enormous responsibility and Scripture reminds us to pray for him and other political leaders. I pray that he might have wisdom and humility, compassion and mercy and that he would act justly and righteously pursue the paths of peace. I also prayed and hoped that he might recant and apologise for his allegation that Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Opposition, was with others who were opposed to bombing, in any way, “terrorist sympathisers”. It was a disgraceful and dishonourable thing to say, as it is clearly not true. Such an off-the-cuff but recorded remark, reveals much about the true nature of someone who can be a smooth talker, confident persuader and clever communicator. Tony Blair was equally an able leader and great persuasive orator and negotiator who commanded huge respect and support prior to his handling of the Iraqi crisis. Prime Minister and politicians of all parties, take heed, your attitudes as well as your actions and policies will come under close scrutiny in the years ahead.

The debate in Parliament has come at the beginning of Advent, a season where we focus on the coming of Christ into the world, retelling and reminding ourselves of the motivation and means by which God waged war with the powers of darkness; conquering evil with good, hatred with love, bringing peace through redemption and reconciliation, an end to conflict through suffering and servanthood and bringing transformation by grace and compassion. Challenging and subverting the ways of an unjust and cruel world by the ushering in of a new way for living that brings hope, peace and love to bear upon all people. Jesus, who came in vulnerability, revealing the love of God, is hailed not as a conquering military hero but the Servant King, the Wonderful Counsellor the Prince of Peace.

Oh how we need people of peace in our fractured world of conflict and violence. Reading the Beatitides this morning I am reminded that it is the peacemakers who are blessed.

In relation to the evil, terrible atrocities committed by such groups as Isis, both in Iraq, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Mali, France, Belgium, Kenya, America and here in Britain, how we respond is complex but a Christian response has to be more than any endorsing of a military air strike campaign. Even if it could be argued that military intervention in Syria can comply with a ‘Just War’ theory, other options should be seriously considered before embarking upon the bombing of any people and nation.

Jeremy Corbyn is continually derided and ridiculed by the Government and slandered, lied about and defamed by the vast majority of the press. They detest him and understandably so as he would be a serious threat to them if ever a Labour government that was socialist in outlook and expression was elected, which is very unlikely for the foreseeable future. I believe however that Corbyn has not only stood by his principles but raised questions and proffered some solutions which should be considered. He is not going to be a great leader of the Labour Party. I doubt if it was ever his intention to be so. He carries the overwhelming majority of Labour Party members, a party that is growing in numbers and strength every week; he won a resounding victory to become leader but is severely handicapped by his inability to command the loyalty and respect of a significant number of Labour MPs. It’s not surprising, given that he has operated on the backbenchers throughout his political life that he faces opposition both within the parliamentary party, from the government and the predominantly right-wing media.

All that drowns out some serious contributions that he has sought to make in the current debate. For example, his contending for initiatives to be taken against those people and powers that our funding groups like Isis, which appear to go unheeded. The idea that the West should place sanctions on banks and states that are funding Isis. It seems to me an eminently significant thing to do; to thwart Isis from functioning by cutting off its resources, its funding, its supply of arms and its trade. Saudi Arabia, if not at government level, but certainly at aid-level, is providing support for Isis. And herein lies some of the complexity but also the duplicity of our own Government’s response to the situation. To criticise or take any measures against Saudi would be detrimental to our relationship with the country. It would affect trade relations, our interests, investments and our still heavy reliance upon oil in the Middle East.

We know that prominent members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family were major donors to Al Qaeda in the late 1990s and early 2000’s, prior to the 9/11terrorist attacks on America. The hijackers in the September 11 attacks were 19 men who belonged to Al Qaeda. 15 of them were citizens of Saudi Arabia!, one came from the United Arab Emirate’s, one from Egypt and another from Lebanon. Not one of them was from Iraq! A fact that most people, notably in America are oblivious to. America’s response under President Dick Cheney, (well the front man who got the title ‘President’ was called George W. Bush but the man pulling the strings was none other than Cheney), was determined to invade Iraq and let’s not pretend any more that it was simply to defeat Saddam Hussein because he posed a military threat to the West. Oil reserves, arms trading all played their part in the illegal war that Britain and America engaged in.

 

The evils and barbarity of groups like Isis are wicked in the extreme and are inexcusable but if we are to combat such evil we must do so not only with right intentions but with the right means and methods. Our hands are covered in blood and we must bear some responsibility for the death of over 4 million people, predominantly in Iraq and Afghanistan, since the first Gulf War in 1990. Victims of the two Gulf Wars in those two countries, combined with the 1.7 million Iraqi civilians who died as a consequence of the West’s brutal sanctions regime, half of whom were children. Sanctions that people like Jeremy Corbyn, often a lone voice, campaigned tirelessly against on the grounds that it was not Saddam Hussain and his comrades who suffered but his people. These are undisputed UN figures. We have waged war and it is absurd to think that we have done nothing to provoke anti-Western hostility which in turn has become the breeding ground for the rise of terrorism and groups such as Isis. We will never be able to address the many and complex issues of peace and reconciliation without looking at root causes and unintended consequences and seeing things from others, including our enemies perspective.

  

God grant us as much resolve to build peace, exercise justice and mercy and promote the education of minds that have been twisted and deceived by subtle but wicked propaganda. Expenditure is required to defend and bolster security against terrorism but resources must also be found to counter terrorism through education, dialogue, collaboration, reconciliation, peacemaking and justice initiatives. The transformation of hearts and minds is what contributes to changes of attitudes, behaviour and actions and helps to build a just and compassionate world. Things like help and hospitality, bringing hope and healing combats fear and fighting, compassion counters conflict and love conquers hatred.

That’s the Good News, prophecied by Isaiah that one day: The LORD will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. and announced by the angels in the Christmas story, a message of hope: Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth.

    

As a Community we have often sung Paul Field’s Blessing. May it be our song through Advent and into the coming new year:

Go peaceful, in gentleness, through the violence of these days.

Give freely, show tenderness in all your ways.

It been a pleasant and relaxing weekend after the demands of leading back to back retreats at Nether Springs over the last two weeks. A great time on both weeks: hosting a German group from Nuremberg (whose attitude and response to the refugee crisis is so markedly different from our own Government’s response) and for all the leaders who were on the mentoring retreat; great folk, ministering in tough contexts, with sparse resources and so little support. Both experiences needing time for me to reflect and pray about. A lovely time relaxing with good friends who were staying with us from Cornwall, enjoying the sheer beauty of autumn here in Northumberland, another winning team performance at curling, a game of tennis and a walk by the sea along the promenade at Spittal, all valuable in the relaxing and refreshing that is so vital after the demands of giving out to others.

The weekend afforded me the time to read about the Pope’s visit to the United States last month. His addressed a joint meeting of Congress. In what was an historic speech he reminded his audience of the contributions of four remarkable people who had shaped America for good: President Abraham Lincoln, the Baptist pastor and leadr of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, the monk Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day, the co-founder of the Catholic Workers Movement.

Martin Luther King, Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day have been influences in my own life and ministry and that of the Northumbria Community. I have written before about Luther King so for the purposes of this blog will focus on Merton and Day.

Pope Francis, in many ways reflects Merton’s emphasis on prayer, deep spirituality, social justice and a disdain for sanctimony and religious or political protocol that gets in the way of compassionate humanity, the fruits of love for God.

Merton is a fascinating character and one whose writings have inspired and influenced many believers. His famous, bestselling autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, tells the story of a sad childhood. Orphaned at six and fifteen by the death of his parents, he endured a lonely adolescence and a wild young adulthood, including a short period at Cambridge University before he got into difficulties and was forced to come home, only to endure more setbacks and at one point, feeling so depressed, he contemplated taking his own life. His turbulent lifestyle, troubled background and tortured mind all played a part in him seeking God which led to a dramatic coming to faith in Christ and his conversion to Catholicism. The transformation in his life led him to becoming a monk in a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. His autobiography, published in 1948 sold 600,000 copies in hardcover, surpassing 1 million copies shortly after its paperback release. The book revealed early on that he was a talented writer and poet and able to communicate movingly about lots of life and faith issues.

His writings encourage people to seek God, discover the joys, gift and grace of prayer and contemplation. His well-known books, No Man Is An Island and New Seeds Of Contemplation have helped millions of people in their devotional life, Catholics, Protestants and many spiritual seekers. He pioneered what he called, “Contemplation in a World of Action”, anticipating the discovery or renewal and popularity of meditation in our contemporary world. He worked tirelessly for social justice and peace. He was someone who gave permission for Christians in the West to look to the East. It was his respect of other Eastern traditions, including Buddhism that led many to write him off as a heretic but he remained Christo centric and true to his Catholic faith. Pope Francis described Merton as “a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the Church. He was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions.”

Merton was a discontent throughout his life. A controversial character, somebody who didn’t comply with many things. I find it really interesting that somebody who was called to a life of solitude had so many interactions with other people, both within the monastery and on his many travels. He was constantly discontented, always looking for something more. A paradoxical character; loving solitude, living as a solitary within a hermitage in the grounds of the monastery yet accompanied by friends on many occasions. The ultimate gift however of Merton, grows out of his prophetic calling. The things he felt, saw, imagined, the things he fought for and fought against all come from his prophetic calling.

As Rowan Williams, another great influence on our own Northumbria Community through his writings, writes in a brilliant foreword to a recent book on Merton. A coherent and comprehensive reminder of why Merton has mattered and still matters so much to so many diverse readers. He remains hard to categorise, a dangerous ally for anyone looking for support for any kind of party. At his best – and there is so much that is his best – he diagnosis as no one else both the spiritual and the political dis-eases of the post-war world, and we can still recognise the problems. But equally he displays wonderfully the richness and resourcefulness of the renewed world of the gospel.

Over the summer I read Jonathan Sack’s excellent book, Not In God’s Name ~ Confronting Religious Violence and found myself thinking how we could do with a modern day Merton, someone who could understand deeply and communicate authentically about the struggles within the human heart that spill out in the consciousness of religious fundamentalists, Islamic extremists, etc. Someone who could read the signs of the times, and make the connection between the human heart and human behaviour. At a time when the issue of nuclear armament is back on the political agenda here in Britain, we would do well to revisit some of Merton’s writings on war, peace and nuclear non-proliferation. He refused, even when ordered by the abbot general of his order, to stop writing against militarism, nuclear armament and war. He was committed to peace and nonviolence at a time when his views were denounced, as indeed such views would find hostility today.

We can view Merton as we might view some of the Old Testament prophets; they carried something of the pain and heartache in their own lives and were a challenge and pain to their contemporaries, both within the religious community and those outside. They too, often, like Merton, carried a brokenness in their own lives, that far from undermining their calling, added validity and authenticity.

Merton died in 1968 at the age of 53, a tragic death, electrocuted by a faulty fan in his hotel room in Bangkok. We can but wonder what he may have contributed had he lived longer but we can nevertheless draw wisdom and inspiration from his prophetic voice that speaks so powerfully to us today.

  

Dorothy Day, was once described as the patron saint of people who can be impatient. She loved God and she loved people.

Francis could have chosen from several notable Catholic Americans, but he mentioned two who had been in trouble with the church at different points of their lives. Merton was silenced by his superiors for writing against the Cold War and Day was told not to use the word Catholic.

She famously said that, The Church is the cross on which Christ is crucified, quoting theologian Romano Guardini, who happens to be the Pope’s favourite theologian.

Day lived out what Pope Francis is known for: compassion for those on the margins, championing the rights of the vulnerable and weak, and his great emphasis on “the least” as the most important people of all, that the poor and wounded in our midst are especially beloved of God, and thus especially deserving of our love and generosity.

In his addres to Congrees Pope Francis said; We must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible,” he added, “as we educate new generations not to turn their backs on our neighbors and everything around us. Dorothy Day was the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, who used her faith to work for social justice. In 1940, TIME noted that, “Among U. S. Christians who care for the poor, none are more blessed with selfless zeal than those Roman Catholics who labor in the Catholic Worker movement.”

The movement she founded blended zeal for reforming the whole social system with practical concern for helping the individual poor. She was arrested a dozen times, the first as a suffragette in 1917, the last during a workers’ demonstration in California in 1973, and took part in scores of labour and antimilitary protests. The movement spawned hospitality houses around the country that served as refuges for the poor and centres for intentional living and social-justice organising. She was a woman of great faith and prayer, which sustained her through her many years and fuelled her commitment to nonviolence and to serving the poor and to speaking truth to power.

Pope Francis in highlighting three nonviolent Americans fits with his call to end the arms trade. To do so before the Hawks in the Congress reveals his courage and radicalness. To advocate nonviolent figures to an audience more used to deploying force of arms was both subversive and prophetic.

        

May church leaders like Pope Francis be prepared to speak truth to power, as Anglican bishops have done today in rebuking the Prime Minister, David Cameron for his government’s pathetic response to the humanitarian crisis facing the world.

  

I might as well come clean and admit it. I may have put a nail in the coffin of the Labour Party, aided a false dawn or conversely been at the beginnings of a movement for change that might bring about some good for our society and the wider world.

Yes, I voted for Jeremy Corbyn and was delighted at the overwhelming mandate he received from Labour Party members to become its leader.

Whether he makes a good leader remains to be seen. Whether as a radical backbencher he is able to unite and lead the party, overcome nearly every newspaper which will ruthlessly misrepresent and seek to discredit and “kill him off”, (for an example of this, see the deceitful and fabricated story that the Sun ran on Tuesday to smear Corbyn). It will be a foretaste of many more lives told in the propaganda war that will be waged to discredit him and the thought of a socialist party gaining any ground will draw guns from all quarters of the right and centre right to kill off any credible alternative to the way in which our country is run politically and economically.

I was pleased when the news came through on Saturday of Corbyn’s victory and encouraged by his acceptance speech and the one he made at the rally for welcoming refugees in London that he attended immediately after the election results were announced.

A movement has been born with people from all backgrounds and generations, many of them young, who like me have given their support to somebody who is a principled politician, who has lived consistently what he believes and who in the leadership debates, captured the imagination and gave a refreshing vision of how we might live as a society, one that is rooted in social justice, compassion, optimism and is good news for the poor.

Idealistic yes, but offering an inspiring vision of a society rooted in righteous, peaceable and compassionate values, for the benefit of all and not just the few. A society that reflects the biblical mandates of loving mercy, acting justly and walking humbly, of being our brother’s keeper, loving our neighbour and working for peace and reconciliation.

I don’t agree with every policy that he has been advocating but I admire his courage, convictions, principles and the manner in which he has conducted himself throughout his years as a politician. Even his bitterest opponents concede that he is one of, to quote a Tory government minister, the most decent and honourable politicians in Westminster.

To have a leader who actually listens and welcomes debate is so refreshing. His policies, many of which I have read over recent weeks, reveals someone who clearly listens to people, including those with differing views. He cares deeply and brings a refreshing understanding and depth of intellect and conviction to the values and ideas that have shaped who he is and why he is in politics. These values and ideas are, I believe, why the Labour Party exists as a social democratic movement, offering hope, transformation and a greater commitment to a compassionate humanity and a more just and equitable society.

He stands up for his beliefs and does not waver when he is maligned, misunderstood or misrepresented. He has never given in to popularism nor has he sacrificed his principles for power.

He has been a pioneer in the arena of social justice, both in this country and abroad.

When successive British governments were calling the ANC terrorists, Corbyn was out on the streets getting arrested for protesting against Apartheid. When our government sanctioned the sale of arms to Saddam Hussein, validating and supplying the means by which they could be used to create chemical weapons to kill thousands of people, it was Jeremy Corbyn who was outside the Iraqi embassy in London, denounced such evil actions. He was been one of the most ardent and outspoken opponents to our invasion and war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has consistently spoken out for those who are marginalized, for those whose voices are rarely heard, both within this country and victims of injustice, poverty and warfare across the world.

One of the delightful things that is so apparent in reading his speeches is that they are permeated with the language of, “we” and “us“. When most other politicians speak of “I” and “my“, how refreshing to have a political leader who appeals to that intrinsic and God-given element that is communal, community, togetherness.

I recall the abhorrent line in the late Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the Church of Scotland Assembly in Edinburgh in the 1980s, stating that, “there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families“. This was not only an epitaph to the 1980s ‘Me’ culture, which I believe has scarred Britain as a society and paved the way for an immoral, unfettered free-market capitalism, that devoid of Christian virtue, has simply rewarded the rich and powerful and disempowered the weak and powerless. It has no doubt improved the standards of living materially for many of us but it has poisoned how we live well as a just and compassionate society.

To hear a politician talking about the corporate nature of society, of our relationship together, with our neighbours, here at home and abroad is very encouraging.

It could of course be a false dawn. I was euphoric at Labour’s victory in the 1997 General Election and saw the impact of early policies contributing to a more just, compassionate and equitable society. Investment was more evenly shared across the United Kingdom, the Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement brought a cessation of violence and terrorism to Northern Ireland, the Minimum Wage was introduced, new schools, hospitals and affordable homes were built. “Things could only get better” but sadly in many ways, they didn’t. Apart from some alleviation of debt that Gordon Brown presided over for some African countries, the Labour Party under Tony Blair in their second term, captured by power and the abandonment of core values and principles, in many ways encouraged economic policies that favoured the few and unleashed stock market gambling greed that inevitably would fail. Policies that created great freedoms for banks and other financial institutions, that ironically, would have gone even further if the Conservatives had been in power in that period leading to the global financial crisis. The fallout of that crisis has of course been felt most among the poor of the world. Since the crash the banks have been bailed out, the rich have got richer, and the poor are paying for the folly, greed and sin of bankers, and continue to be penalised for the mistakes of financiers who continue to this day to gamble and exploit.

The terrible, cruel welfare policies that are now being meted out upon the British public by the present government have met little resistance from opposition parties. I heard yesterday about the new measures affecting asylum seekers here in Britain. Cutting costs, the Government has decreed that many of the offices around the country where asylum seekers must report to sign on, have been closed and in their place there are now regional centres. What this means is that asylum seekers in the north-east of England, a big geographical region, must sign on, some of them weekly, others fortnightly or monthly at the office in Middlesbrough, to the far south of the region. On their first visit they are given a travel permit. No such travel grants are given for subsequent appointments. As a consequence, asylum seekers do not meet the required criteria for them to stay and they can then be deported back to the countries that they are fleeing from. A nasty policy that needs exposing for what it is; inhumane, lacking in either compassion or justice ~ wicked. And whilst on the subject of asylum seekers, let’s get the facts removed from the propaganda fiction; asylum seekers are not eligible for any benefits. The nasty rumour, that fuels fear and racist attitudes, is that they come over here and just sponge off our system. The vast majority do not. They are fleeing from war, torture and untold levels of suffering. Many of them have walked hundreds of miles to escape to freedom and we have a system now that demands that they must walk yet more miles, with no help to meet our bureaucratic regulations, designed not so much to bring a due process to those seeking refuge in our country but rather to assuage the ignorant, prejudiced and racist factions that no government should succumb to appeasing.

What a Labour government would do in the face of such enormous challenges, I don’t know. What I do know however is that its new leader carries a heart for the poor and compassion to reach out to people like asylum seekers and refugees. If you haven’t already seen his speech at the rally, visit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vztEzlQOCPQ

History, not least church history, reminds us that it is often from the margins, from the radical edge that visionaries emerge. Prophetic and apostolic figures who effect transformation both in the church and society. I was very moved by his impassioned plea that we might, as ordinary human beings, “open your hearts, open your minds, open your attitude towards supporting people who are desperate, who need somewhere safe to live, who want to contribute to our society and are human beings just like all of us. Together in peace, together in justice, together in humanity, surely that must be our way forward” Amen to that!

I don’t think I would describe Jeremy Corbyn as either prophetic or apostolic but I do recognise him to be a principled politician who carries values that I believe are good for promoting the wellbeing of a just and compassionate society.

How refreshing to have somebody who doesn’t speak “on message” with political platitudes and spin doctoring lines. The bland and predictable statements that come out from Government ministers and Opposition spokesmen are so boring and only contribute to people’s disillusionment and disengagement with politics.

One of the things that I’ve learned and so appreciate about being a Companion of the Northumbria Community is our embracing of a rule of life. Availability and Vulnerability are the values by which we seek to live out our lives. They are foundational and at the heart of who we are, what we do and why we are and do the things we do, alone and together, as a community.

Values are critical. For me, they are more important than visions.

What appeals to me about what’s happening in the Labour Party at the moment under Corbyn is that the party has an opportunity to rediscover its values.

Winning elections has to be a goal of any political party but I would suggest that staying true to your values is even more important than winning an election. If politics is only about political expediency and gaining power and you are prepared to sell your principles and values in order to gain victory, by targeting key marginal constituencies, then you have, to put in biblical terms, sold your birthright and are devoid of integrity and authenticity.

I believe that this is what happened to the Liberal Democrats as they went into a coalition government following the previous General Election. They were tempted and seized the opportunity of power, justified it on the basis of, the national interest and stood on a platform of, “we stand for a moderate version of whatever you stand for“. They reaped what they had sown and have almost sunk beyond trace into an electoral abyss.

It can only be good for democracy to be able to discuss and differentiate between political parties about what each one stands for. The Labour Party has the opportunity to recover its values that it lost with the New Labour project. Michael Heseltine, a former Deputy Prime Minister, who mounted a failed challenge to oust Margaret Thatcher from the leadership of the Conservative Party., someone who commands my respect, commenting on the rise of New Labour back in the 1990’s said: A one legged army limping away from the storm they had created. Left! Left! Left! About turn! Right! Right! Very funny and very astute.

It has to be good to foster open and honest debates between the parties now as to how each one would govern Britain. I look forward to hearing more convictions and principles from both the Government and Opposition benches addressing the huge issues that we face as a society and the world.

I think that we will see more of a change in tone, as evidenced in this week’s, Prime Minister’s Questions. I hope that there might be enlivened debates between socialist, progressive, collective endeavour and that of individual, free-market conservative traditionalism. A healthy debate on the strengths and weaknesses of both capitalism and socialism.

I am weary of the insipid and damaging quest to occupy their “centre ground”, to gain the support of those key marginal constituencies that secure a political party’s success in the General Election.

The fact that there will be clear differences between the present government and a Corbyn led Labour Party should be welcomed by anybody who was concerned about the value of democracy. This was seen recently when and Corbyn voted against the Government and his parties whips on the Welfare Reform Bill. He did so because he saw the issue of benefit cuts, impacting the unemployed, underemployed, poor, sick, disabled and their children as an issue of Human Rights. For other MP’s, the decision was for political ends.

The same is true in relation to immigration. Consistently going against the flow of media induced public opinion, Corbyn has stood up for the rights of both migrants and asylum seekers.

I wonder, given the events of the last few weeks, whether he hasn’t proved that he is more in touch with public opinion, than the right wing press have suggested. The fact that he is regarded as a ‘man of the people’, and has considerably more virtue and principle than UKIP’s Nigel Farage, may be one of his strongest selling points to the electorate.

He has certainly inspired thousands of people in these early days of his campaigning and leadership of the party. Thousands joined the party during the campaign and over 50,000 more have joined the party in the last five days since he became leader. This is unprecedented in British politics.

He has taken a huge risk in appointing his friend John McDowell as his Shadow Chancellor. I watched last night’s Question Time and as Sandi Toksvig, one of the panellists noted, “she could count on the fingers of one hand family time she’d heard a politician on question Time offer an apology.” McDowell said some fairly horrendous things in the past and whatever his motives and intentions, his commendation of IRA terrorists, will haunt him throughout his political career. Whether he means what he said last night only time will tell; If I gave offence, and I clearly have, from the bottom of my heart I apologise, I apologise…. I accept it was a mistake to use those words, but actually if it contributed towards saving one life, or preventing someone else being maimed, it was worth doing because we did hold onto the peace process,”…. There was a real risk of the Republican movement splitting, and some continuing with the armed process. If I gave offence, and I clearly have, from the bottom of my heart I apologise.

What McDowell will say on economic policy will be revealed over the coming months but I relish the prospect of seeing some alternative views within the party and within parliament expressed.

Corbyn’s policies on rural affairs and quantitative easing for people to fund investment and promote innovation and reward aspiration are worthy of serious consideration.

His ability to rally and enthuse people around ideas of re-nationalisation could cause a real stir and change in political outlooks.

I may be naïve and idealistic but I believe good politics is best exercised by political parties who represent the values they espouse and who then seek to formulate policies that can be worked out within the legal and democratic system of government.

I hope that Corbyn stays to lead the Labour Party at the next General Election when the public will be given a genuine choice, an alternative set of policies. I hope that his positive visionary politics will actually inspire all parties to be less negative and offer something positive rooted in hope not playing on fear.

I hope that the apathy that has lulled the public into disinterest and disillusionment with politicians will abate and we can all, of whatever political persuasion, see that how we live and are governed really matters.

Here’s hoping and praying…

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for rulers and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.                            1 Timothy 2:1,2.

I have just returned from a brief but very pleasant trip to Ireland. A mixture of work and family time, permeated with the rekindling of friendships with those whom we have come to appreciate, love and respect greatly.

Ireland as I have said on many occasions is such a paradoxical place; hospitality and hostility, friendship and feuding, beauty and ugliness, warmth and respect mingle with destructive sectarianism, racism and sexism. A land from where the gospel first came to most of the rest of Britain. A people and place seeped in faith but poisoned in part by a ‘religious spirit’ that substitutes relationships, freedom, grace and community for doctrinal creeds, divisive dogma and schismatic, confining church practices. Posters on church hoardings reflecting the negativity and hardline judgementalism of a fundamentalist church culture and not that of the One whom such posters purport to represent. As I drove through East Belfast to our Community Gathering by the side of the university near the city centre last night, I reflected on these posters with their biblical texts that punctuated my journey. Allegedly communicating ‘Good News’ ~ meaning Gospel, all I gleaned as I drove by them was that of sin, death, judgement and hell and what I must do to be saved. No text from the Gospels themselves, just chosen texts, mostly from Paul’s Letters, mostly from selected verses in Romans chapters 3 and 6 and consequently little or no conveying of God’s love, grace and compassion.

Ireland such a significant place in the formation and expansion of Christianity in the world is now being overwhelmed and undermined by the tides of secularism, materialism and drift away from church, both Catholic and Protestant. A society in many ways so generous and welcoming but whose ways seem too often to be steeped and bound by history, tribal conventions and cultural expectations. In such a context it is hard to be a nonconformist; to think outside the box, to question the status quo. To be different is to court the label of being disloyal, a traitor, deviant or heretic.

Yet it is in such a context that I have been privileged to witness new shoots, expressions of life and faith that carry hope for this beautiful place and its people. Traits of nonconformity are breaking out and bringing healing and hope.

A ‘community of prayer’ at Saul, (that we were privileged to be part of in its founding), gathering believers from both protestant and catholic traditions every Monday evening to share in Evening Prayer.

The ‘Settling’, a gathering of church and unchurched, several marginalised folk at Ballydugan on Sunday afternoons where people simply meet to talk, eat and work together in the gardens and grounds of Letterfinlay, sharing life stories, supporting one another through welcoming hospitality and listening, supportive hearts.

A youth initiative and café church established in Downpatrick to reach out to the growing numbers of unchurched young people of the area.

I was particularly encouraged by the three Community meetings I was part of this week. The conversation with Companions and Friends around the meal table exploring the possibilities of some form of “Community House’ at Ballydugan. A special place, a thin place, which carries with it elements of destiny and seeped over the years in prayer and the presence of believers seeking and serving God.

The ‘meeting’ that followed saw people gather from the area; at short notice, meeting with us, eager to hear, share and pray.

Then last night the joy of being with our Community folk in the café they hired for our Gathering. A bunch of radical nonconformists, deeply and authentically seeking God and exploring what it means to embrace Availability and Vulnerability in Ireland. A safe space where the ‘welcoming of the stranger’ comes naturally to a Community that embraces such values. Familiar faces, established and exploring Companions, along with new people, all contributing to a healthy, enjoyable and stimulating gathering.

It was great to see people who were joining the group for the first time; those who came having been recently on retreat to Nether Springs, others from a perusal of the website and another at the invitation of a friend. People from all walks of life and backgrounds of faith; medicine, media, law, architecture, public and charitable sectors, education, social, youth and community workers; single folk and married couples, young and old; catholic and protestant, churched, unchurched and dechurched and others who are just not sure where they are at but who are seeking. It is always a great privilege and joy to listen and learn from fellow Companions as to how they are seeking to embrace our Rule of Life, both alone and together in Community. It is in such meetings that I realise afresh the prophetic and radical nature of our calling as a Community. That there is a nonconformist stream that trickles through the very heart of our calling as a new monastic community, exploring A new way for Living. We are called to a contemplative way of life that engages with the church and the world. Praying and serving, being and doing in ways that renew or reimagine how we seek to live as followers of Christ in a changing world and in ways that are “almost monastic in nature but most of all enacting a fearful hope for society”.

On arriving and departing from Ballydugan I spent some time wandering through the grounds of Letterfinlay, the house where Shirley and I lived for a year back in 2006/07. A wild flower meadow has been planted in the gardens there, a sign and symbol of something simple, organic, bringing light and colour to the land and blessing to the birds, butterflies and a myriad of insects. A sign and symbol of what we had witnessed in our conversations and interactions with those whom we were privileged to be with over these past few days. ‘Seeds planted’ offering light and life, hope and healing, beauty and colour to the land and its people.

A good trip…Good people, Good place, Good Possibilities…

It was an unexpected and very pleasant surprise. Occasionally I help out at the local United Reformed Church and yesterday led their morning service. Expecting a handful of people in the congregation, predominantly elderly, it was wonderful to welcome a party of over 20 young people from 11 different nations who were staying in Wooler on an international young people’s camp. They certainly enlivened the service and whilst their presence required a revision and revamping on the spot of how to present what I had prepared, it was a very stimulating and enjoyable morning, which everyone in the congregation appreciated.

It was such a pleasant experience, given the appalling and disreputable newspaper headlines and television covering of the crisis in Calais recently. The appalling, toxic language that has been deployed by the media and lamentably by politicians, including the Prime Minister, has only served to fuel the antagonism, hostility and antipathy towards migrants. David Cameron has evoked international criticism by he describing migrants in Calais trying to get into Britain as a “swarm” and his knee-jerk popularist response to the crisis was to speak about strong armed tactics, offensive measures including dogs to deter the migrants from entry.

 

Thank God for the Bishop of Dover, who at the weekend, challenged both the media and politicians over their use of unhelpful rhetoric. He urged David Cameron to “rediscover what it is to be human”, going on to say, “we’ve become an increasingly harsh world, and when we become harsh with each other and forget our humanity then we end up in these stand off positions … We need to rediscover what it is to be human and that every human being matters.”

Clearly there is an issue but it needs to be addressed in a compassionate, considerate and non-violent way. Gesture politics, tabloid grabbing headlines only help to shut out the cries of desperation from those who are pleading at our door, refugees, not economic migrants. In an extraordinary denunciation on how Britain was handling the issue, the United Nations special representative on migration, Peter Sutherland, denounced Britain’s attitude suggesting that the lessons of Nazism had not been learned. “Many of those in Calais are refugees, just as the Jewish people were in 1939. They can prove they were and are persecuted and would be persecuted if they were returned.”

I am reminded of those very challenging words of Jesus; “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.” The people listening to Jesus asked him, “Lord when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it we saw you as stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or imprison and visited you?”Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me”.

God, to whom we are, I believe, ultimately responsible and accountable watches and must grieve at the way in which we are responding to the “crisis”.

There is a huge issue around migration but it is not simply a British problem. It is a problem for Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and many places throughout the world. The idea that it is only Britain that faces this problem is ridiculous. As ridiculous as the Prime Minister’s suggestion that “a few more miles of barbed wire fencing and more dogs” would solve the problem.

Far greater numbers of migrants are to be seen in places like Greece and Italy. These two countries have witnessed nearly 200,000 migrants coming ashore this year, considerably more than those in the “jungle” near Calais.

When “breaking news” sensationalist headlines and political propaganda dominate what is lost is truth. Perception and prejudice rule over what is true and honourable, compassionate and just.

One of the things that I appreciate is the ability to discuss and debate things. The poverty and lack of debate in contemporary society and in many quarters of the church is very regrettable and something that does very little for the wellbeing of any society or community. Whatever the issue; from Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe, to austerity measures and changing patterns of worship in church services, it’s always helpful to have some facts to aid informed debate and discussion. I came across an article in the Huffington Post yesterday which I found very revealing. Some facts about the present “crisis”:

The impression given by the media is that all migrants want to come to Britain. They don’t! Many more migrants head for Germany and Sweden. Those two countries alone dealt with nearly half of all the asylum applications in Europe last year. The actual numbers of asylum applications to Britain showed an increase of 5% last year over the previous year. Just over 25,000 people applied for in 2014 as opposed to 84,000 in 2002.  Of a quarter of a million people seeking asylum, fewer than 10,000 have claimed asylum in the UK in the first six months of this year. About a fifth of these asylum seekers are from Syria and the other main countries of origin are Afghanistan, Kosovo and Eritrea. The biggest increase in asylum applications last year came from Ukrainians, (remember that country? You would think that having disappeared off the newspaper headlines that the problem had gone away. In fact the daily killings, savagery, brutality and the hoards of Russian militia that are sweeping across the country, pose an equal if not more substantial threat to the Western world than any of the troubled spots in the Middle East and North Africa).

  

Another reason why we cannot pretend that the refugee crisis has nothing to do with us is because we have intervened and in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, invaded. If there is, to quote our Prime Minister, a “swarm”, it is not in Calais but in places like Baghdad, Tripoli and Kabul where our violent interventions in an unholy and unjust war has disturbed a hornets nest of unmitigated violence, brutality, bloodshed and terrorism. Our mistaken engagement and fabricated reasoning for going to war with Iraq has reaped what we have sown – death and devastation. We have attempted to eradicate our enemies by brute force and mechanised, military violence. Inept, arrogant and naïve political leadership, and a failure to understand the mindset of other cultures has fuelled the fires of religious fundamentalism and international terrorism.

We have reaped what we have sown also in relation to armaments. Next month the UK Government will welcome and support the bi-annual Defence and Security Equipment International Trade Fair at the ExCel Centre in London. This is code for an International Arms Fair where the government invites military buyers from around the world and encourages arms companies to network and make deals and help to grow the industry

  

On the one hand you have the Foreign Office listing 27 countries of concern in its recent Human Rights and Democracy Report, yet two years ago at the same Trade Fair, nine of these countries were asked officially to send delegates and ten years ago the UK government approved Arms Export licenses to 18 of the countries on this list. This is wicked. It is indefensible, to condemn repressive states for Human Rights violations and at the same time encourage those same states to buy arms; military weapons, many of them of capable of mass destruction which can be used to assist such repressive regimes. Again the words of Jesus haunt me, “love your enemies”. I often wonder, some would argue naively, what might have occurred had we delivered bread not bombs, education not attempted eradication, peace-making not conflict stirring, to Iraqi’s, Afghan’s and other troubled nations? We might have made more friends than enemies.

Then there’s the old chestnut about migrants only want to come here so they can get benefits as soon as they make it across the channel. No they don’t. Let me state very clearly and refute the lies and propaganda of both the right wing press and the political propaganda that comes out of Westminster. Citizens of non-EU countries who come to Britain have no access whatsoever to public funds in the first few years after they arrive. Similarly, no asylum seeker is eligible for welfare benefits whilst their claims are processed. Don’t believe the lies!

So why are the media making such a fuss about the migrants in Calais? The cynic within me says that editorial policy is as much influenced, particularly at this time of year when many correspondents are on holiday, by ease of access for TV crews. Long lines of stranded lorries make great TV pictures, as do images of desperate people risking their lives trying to leap onto trucks or trains.

Of more concern is my fear that these stories feed into the current debate about Britain’s membership of the EU. With parliament in its summer recess, anti-Europeans, aided by a predominantly right wing anti-European press, can get away with outlandish and wicked claims and propaganda, playing on people’s fears, exploiting ignorance and capitalising on prejudice.

The migrant crisis is complex, challenging and a great issue. The question that was posed a few years ago, with Christians wearing armbands with the phrase, ‘What would Jesus do?’, demands a compassionate and considered response. In truth I don’t know but of this I am sure; he would not be building higher fences, sending the dogs in or talking about people in ways that dehumanise them.

 

The economic crisis in Greece is not just catastrophic for its people but threatens to undermine and break up relationships across Europe and beyond. It also raises some big questions about European and global capitalism.

  

The fate of Greece, a small nation, appears to be being decided according to the interests of the global financiers and their political representatives, along with the powers that be in the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. These three institutions, known as the ‘troika’ ~ a term which denotes a Russian vehicle pulled by a team of three horses abreast is also used to describe a group of three working together in the areas of management and administration. This financial ‘troika’ has imposed impossible demands upon Greece and the Greek people have had enough. The massive turnout and overwhelming vote on Sunday’s referendum was a clear indication to the financial superpowers that they would no longer be dictated to and that the impossible demands that were being placed upon them was a burden that the nation could no longer bear. The people of Greece have spoken. The mass working-class population, the poor and marginalised, who often don’t vote on such occasions, turned out in force, in opposition to the crippling austerity measures.

With the recent commemorations of the Battle of Waterloo, it is interesting to note the parallels with the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 and the unrest now in Greece. The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 had resulted in a period of famine and chronic unemployment, exacerbated by the introduction of the first of the Corn Laws. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, a brief boom in textile manufacturing was followed by a long period of chronic economic depression, particularly among textile weavers and spinners. The workers could have expected to earn 15 shillings for a six-day week in 1803, but saw their wages cut to 5 shillings or lower by 1818. The industrialists, who were cutting wages without offering relief, blamed market forces generated by the aftershocks of the Napoleonic Wars. Making matters worse were the Corn Laws that imposed a tariff on foreign grain in an effort to protect English grain producers. Consequently the cost of food rose as people were forced to buy the more expensive and lower quality British grain. This resulted in famine and chronic unemployment throughout much of Britain which fuelled the desire for political reform.

Against this background, a “great assembly” was organised by radicals from the Manchester Observer. The newspaper’s founder Joseph Johnson wrote to Henry Hunt, a radical spokesman for the protest movement demanding reform, reporting that, “ Nothing but ruin and starvation stare one in the face in the streets of Manchester and the surrounding towns; the state of this district is truly dreadful, and I believe nothing but the greatest exertions can prevent an insurrection. Oh, that you in London were prepared for it.^” Unknown to Johnson and Hunt, the letter was intercepted by government spies and copied before being sent to its destination. The contents were interpreted to mean that an insurrection was being planned, and the government responded by ordering the 15th Hussars to Manchester. The Peterloo Massacre occurred at St Peter’s Field in Manchester on 16th August 1819, when the cavalry charged into a crowd of nearly 80,000 that had gathered to demand parliament make reforms. Local magistrates had called on the military authorities to arrest Hunt and several others on the hustings with him, and to disperse the crowd. The cavalry charged into the crowd with sabres drawn and 15 people were killed and over 700 were injured. The massacre was given the name Peterloo in an ironic comparison to the Battle of Waterloo which had taken place four years earlier.

Just as the masses gathered in Manchester to protest against the austerity measures imposed upon them, so too this week, the Greek people have declared that they have had enough and things have to change. They are not going to tolerate any more the crippling debt that has brought so much untold suffering to the nation.

I believe that we will see in the coming months and years a heightening of social tensions across Europe which is rooted in the seemingly irreconcilable conflict between the most basic needs of the growing masses of the poor across the continent and the wealthy institutions of capitalist Europe; a divide between the richer and more powerful northern nations and the poorer nations of the south.

You can see the threats and bullying behaviour of those who wish to “punish” Greece for its decision. Several representatives of the troika have said that Greece needs to be made an example of so that others don’t take a similar stance and suffer the same consequences. If Greece does leave the EU, either by choice or being expelled, it will hasten the collapse of much bigger economies such as Spain, Portugal and Italy. According to the Institute of International Finance, an estimated global cost of a Greek exit would be something in the region of $1.2 trillion, entailing “killer losses” and would push the continent into a 1930s style depression.

For me what is happening in Greece, raises some fundamental questions about the failure of a predominantly unregulated capitalist system to deliver equal opportunities and justice to the world’s population.

We are seeing on an unprecedented scale that the capitalist free market policies are escalating the divide between rich and poor.

History reminds us that such conditions provide the breeding ground for social unrest, conflict, war and is certainly a major contributor to the horrors of terrorism that threaten the world.

The austerity imposed upon the Greek people over the last five years has neither reduced the debt nor has it improved the conditions of the Greek people. The austerity measures have produced considerable suffering, no improvement and no chance of getting out of the debt crisis. Businesses are closing, public services are being cut, unemployment levels are horrendous, disillusionment and despair is setting in. They are struggling to keep their pensioners having enough to live on and to prevent the vast exodus of tens of thousands of younger people who are trying to leave the country to find employment elsewhere. Greece is a small country and it cannot keep haemorrhaging its best and brightest people at the same time as everybody else’s incomes are collapsing. That is why people are anticipating a depression similar to that of the 1930’s with hundreds of thousands of desperate people and crippling poverty. The inequality between over 90% of the Greek population who are poor and the 5%, the rich and corporations is polarising the nation and causing civil unrest.

The danger for the big financial European and International monetary institutions is that by pushing as hard, demanding and bullying and causing the suffering of many in Greece and other parts of poorer nations in Europe, is that they may reap a whirlwind of anti-capitalist fervour across the continent. The propaganda war started a long time ago; it runs like this: We, the Germans, Brits and other developed nations in the West work hard and deserve our affluence as opposed to the Greeks, who don’t. It’s a piece of propaganda that the Republican campaign in America tried to run in the last Presidential elections and it’s a narrative that is now shaping British politics; ‘hard working people who are having to carry the benefit scroungers and undeserving poor’. By playing such a dangerous propaganda game, there is an inherent potential of a nationalist card that might trump the others in the pack and stir racial hatred, conflict and potential war.What’s really going on with austerity becomes therefore a class war.

As an economic strategy, austerity, during periods of recession, makes little sense. It actually makes matters worse. This is a fact that the current government somehow managed to get away with in the run up to the recent General Election. The previous coalition government ran up more public debt than all the Labour governments since 1900 combined and they missed their own borrowing targets by billions. The current government’s now responsible for £517 billion of the trillion-plus-pound UK public debt.

To be able to get away with the propaganda that Labour caused the debt, (forgetting there was a global economic recession) is sheer hypocrisy but a brilliant electioneering strategy that worked. Labour was irresponsible but not wholly to blame for the global economic crisis we are currently faced with.

Those who are crippled by debt, whether in Greece or here in Britain, with no ability to invest and grow, get into more debt. Fact not fiction.

The full scale of this week’s Budget in Britain when analysed hits the poorest in our country more than anyone else. £12bn taken from the poorest in society is terrible. The Institute for Fiscal Studies reported today that over 3 million households in Britain would be £1,000 a year worse off as a result of the cuts to tax credits, with low-income workers hardest hit. I met a young mother yesterday, who with her husband work in the voluntary and caring sectors, are on low pay and they, doing their income calculator following the Budget, will be nearly £1,500 worse off a year.

What is often forgotten in a financial crisis is the actions of the banks. In lending money they too entered into a risk, yet being as powerful and unaccountable as they are, they can not only write the rules but rewrite them. Far from being casualties of the crisis there are in many ways perpetrators and have become persecutors of the suffering victims; the populations of weaker economic countries.

The idea that Greece and other countries have lived beyond their means if both offensive and stupid. Most countries including our own, borrow, most of the time, at alarming rates. We are all guilty in the Western world of “living beyond our means” and we’ve been doing it for many years. For example the USA has tripled its outstanding debt and is living beyond its means on a scale unprecedented. Countries like Greece were not so much borrowing too much but they faced a situation where their lenders were no longer interested in investing any further. Remember banks and financial institutions make money off the huge fees they charge. In the Bible it’s called extortion.

The biggest problem for Greece was the global economic collapse of 2008. Suddenly, every major capitalist country, led by the USA, had to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars and that meant every bank, lending body, every insurance company suddenly had an immense increase in demand for its loans. Seizing the opportunity to lend, often what they didn’t have, and they need now a return on their loans are able to pick off the easy targets, like Greece, leaving their banks and the big financial institutions untouched.

What is also often lost amid the discussions on the present financial crisis and the policies that are being pursued by Germany and its powerful European allies is the historical irony of what happened to the German nation back in 1953. Germany was suffering greatly as a result of both the Great Depression and the fact that they’d lost the Second World War. They appealed to the United States, France and Britain, pleading for help with their escalating debts. These crippling debts hampered their ability to grow. They also argued that they were unable to stand with the Allied nations against the threat of the Soviet Union because of the weakness of their economy. The so-called “London agreement” of 1953 saw the economic powers of the USA, France and Britain wipe out 50% of Germany’s outstanding debt and the other 50% is stretched out over 30 years. In effect, Germany got the relief of all its basic indebtedness, based on two world wars that they were held accountable for and it was that “debt cancellation”, what the Bible calls Jubilee, that unable the German nation to experience its Wirtschaftswunder, the economic miracle that made it such an economic force in the developing Western world.

How ironic, that Germany with other European powers are now refusing to give to Greece what they themselves received!

Greece’s finance minister at London Conference of 1953 signing a treaty agreeing to cancel 50% of Germany’s debt.

I was prompted to write this blog because my Bible reading for today was from Leviticus 25; 8~ 17 which was all about the Year of Jubilee:

You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the day of atonement. You shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, or reap the aftergrowth, or harvest the unpruned vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces. In this year of jubilee you shall return, every one of you, to your property. When you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not cheat one another. When you buy from your neighbor, you shall pay only for the number of years since the jubilee; the seller shall charge you only for the remaining crop years. If the years are more, you shall increase the price, and if the years are fewer, you shall diminish the price; for it is a certain number of harvests that are being sold to you. You shall not cheat one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God. The Jubilee occurred every fifty years and one of its features saw the cancelling of all debts, redistribution of land, property and wealth.

  

Everyone who was in debt was released from them and were able to start over again. In the Jubilee Year all of the slaves and prisoners were set free and all of the land that had been taken by others due to unpayable debts was given back to the original owners.  God commanded that, In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property and the prisoners and slaves could be set free.

Jubilee was God’s way to restore financial and property equality among the nation’s inhabitants so that the disparity between the rich and the poor would be gone.  This equality allowed those in extreme poverty who had lost everything and even their own freedom to be gained back in the only way that they could have possible received it.  In this way, all of the property of the nation became, in a sense, the property of all and no one family or person could gain an unfair advantage over their fellow citizens.   There was also the command to give the land a rest from its labour of producing for the people.

The year of Jubilee was announced with the blowing of the jobel, the ram’s horn, which signaled liberty and freedom.

The jobel was an idea of such transformative power that Jesus used it, when he quoted the prophet Isaiah, to announce his public ministry in Luke 4: ‘he has anointed me… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.‘

It was an idea as brilliant in its simplicity as it was far-reaching in its repercussions. In a single stroke, the poor were lifted up, the lost reintegrated, creation given a moment to breathe, and the birthright of a future generation secured.

As Nick Spencer of the London Institute for Contemporary Chrsitainity says: “The genius of the idea was not in its utopianism but its realism. Early Israel did not pretend the people were naturally selfless or communistic. On the contrary, it presupposed a market economy but tempered its tendency towards inequality and exclusion by basing it on ineradicable ‘stakeholder’ foundations. Every family knew that no matter how hard the times they fell on, their basic stake in society could not be lost for good. Conversely, the successful knew that no matter how well they did for themselves, they would never simply be able to rest on inherited wealth”.

That’s why the message of Jesus is so radical and the impact of Christianity so powerful, subversive and non conformist, challenging the ways of a capitalist consumer world and offering a different way of living that brings hope and peace to the world.

For the people of Greece, Portugal, Spain and so many other nations, considerably worse off than these, Bulgaria, Burundi, Niger, Ethiopia, Zambia, Mali, virtually every country in Africa, South America, Southern Europe and large parts of Asia, how they must long to hear the sound of Jubilee.

But who in the Western world will blow the jobel, cancel the debts, redistribute land and wealth?

The Gospel reading for today was as disturbing as the Old Testament reading on Jubilee was challenging.

Then Jesus said to his disciples….There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.

Luke 16:1, 19~31 The Rich Man and Lazarus

Salutory words…

This morning I woke to the sad news that Charles Kennedy, the former Liberal Democrat leader had died, aged just 55.Very sad news.

My admiration for him rose considerably in the light of his protestations over the Iraq War. He was in many ways, a lone voice, crying in the wilderness of Parliament, back in 2003.

I met him with other denominational leaders and representatives at the Foreign Office when I attended the cenotaph service in 2006 and had been in the audience for a couple of Question Time programmes where he was on the panel.

He will remain in the memory, as one of Britain’s great politicians. A man of great political integrity, he stood by his values and convictions and refused to compromise fundamental beliefs for political gain.

I met someone who knew him well when I was sailing in the Hebrides the other year. They said he was a marvellous constituency MP, serving everyone, regardless of political persuasion.

He always came across as a very warm, genuine, generous and committed public servant. He effortlessly connected with ordinary people. He spoke from the heart, with conviction and was such a refreshing change from the manicured, stage managed and spinmeister culture that dominates most politicians today.

 

I remember watching him on the night he lost his seat and wondered how we would fare, no longer a serving MP. Politics had been his life and the SNP tidal surge had swept him aside and left him adrift from his place of calling and no doubt all the support mechanisms and reason for living that would have kept him going and serving with a purpose in parliament.

He was a remarkable orator and debater and under his leadership, the Liberal Democrats won 62 seats, their best achievement in nearly a hundred years. Were it not for his problem with alcohol he would still be its leader and the party would not have entered the political abyss following their disastrous decision to go into a coalition government with the Conservatives at the 2010 General Election. On principle, he refused to support Nick Clegg’s decision to take the Lib Dems into collation with the Conservatives and warned of the consequences. He described the party’s decision as that of “driving a coach and horses through the great liberal project of re-aligning politics on the centre left”.

My abiding memory of him however was his opposition to the Iraq War. A decision that history will decree was a heroic and right one. He was the only UK political leader who saw and warned of arguably the greatest error in foreign policy we have committed in the last century. The consequences of which have fuelled mayhem, madness and murder on unprecedented scales, causing the deaths of millions of people and creating a bloodbath in the Middle East, a renaissance of religious, fanatical fundamentalism and the rise and growth of global terrorism. These horrors might have been avoided and the world could have been a safer and more just and peaceful a place had Charles Kennedy’s words been heeded:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2015/jun/02/charles-kennedy-dies-aged-55-rolling-report#block-556d6e63e4b04a873a5a946e

Of all the tributes that have poured in today, Muriel Gray, the author and broadcaster, who knew him very well, writes beautifully of him: Charles was a thoroughly decent man, witty, clever kind and thoughtful, without the tiniest shard of mendacity. Given the current climate of nasty politics calling him one of our most talented politicians would almost be an insult. He was a talented, altruistic political thinker, not a self interested operator. Most of all a man who always meant well, struggling with a terrible illness. He leaves a huge gap in politics, one he filled with humour, kindness and intelligence.

The memories of a good man are a blessing. May he rest in peace.

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that. Bill Shankly, one of Liverpool’s great managers.

I don’t agree. Football, from which I have derived a great deal of pleasure both as a player and supporter is a sport. It is not, contrary to some people’s misguided beliefs, a religion, and should not be taken too seriously.

  

That said my devotion and loyalty to Middlesbrough, as well as confirming the notion of purgatory!, saw me following them through the semi-final play offs in the Championship and all the way to the final at Wembley. Joshua and I secured two tickets to ensure our first trip to the magnificent stadium. Alas, the class and experience of Norwich City won the day over the youthful inexperience of Boro. With just 15 minutes on the clock, Boro were two goals down and the match was effectively over. After a season which has seen them play some marvelously entertaining and skillful football they could not raise themselves or recover from those opening opposition salvos and Norwich went onto a comfortable and well deserved win which will take them back up into the Premeirship.

We were very disappointed, not so much by the result but by the way in which Boro played, or rather didn’t play. Such a shame but we will bounce back and with the squad we have and the excellent coach, things auger well for another attempt next season.

What made the day more pleasant and enjoyable was the Teessider’s ‘down to earth’ humour that accompanied the experience of defeat. Also, unlike some other teams supporters who have left early when their team were losing, (Southend, Arsenal, Manchester City and United fans and several thousands of Villa fans today ~ shame on you…) Boro fans stayed and sang to the final whistle and beyond.

It was also incredibly heart warming to witness and experience the good natured banter and camaraderie between the two opposing sets of supporters. Both before and after the game, Boro and Norwich fans mingled in bars, on public transport, walking to and from the stadium with not a hint of bother. We spoke to a group of Norwich fans on the Tube on the way in, good humour and respect permeated our chat. Driving home, crawling at first through the traffic queues around Watford, it was Norwich fans who let me out of a side road. As we drew alongside each other by a set of lights later, they wound the window down and shouted across to me, “See you in 2016!” I said I couldn’t cope with another Wembley trip but they said ‘No, in the Premier league; you’re the best team we have seen all season. Keep believing!’ I laughed and said I’d try and keep believing, particularly as I was a Christian minister! Much laughter and banter ensued which could not be printed here but it lightened the mood that had accompanied Boro’s defeat.

 

Well done Norwich!; your team were better than us on the day and your supporters are a credit to you, just as I was proud of being a Boro supporter….. even though we lost.

  

The bright blue skies and warmth of the early summer sun has been displaced by grey overcast clouds and a cool, chilling wind and rain. What is happening with the weather is a metaphor for how I feel about the results of the General Election and the Queen’s speech this week at the State opening of Parliament.

  

I stayed up long enough into the early hours following the General Election to anticipate the impending political earthquake that has occurred here in the United Kingdom. I woke up to the nightmare of a political landscape that has changed the face of Britain. The vivid colours of the political map reveal new contours and stark borders that show a divided UK. Long held and predictably stable political territories have been taken and some of the most familiar human landmarks had gone, dismantled like statues in a street revolution. Listening to the radio as I travelled south on the morning after the election, household names and key figures in their own parties, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage all stood down, (albeit the dangerous and compelling trickster Farage has resumed his position as leader of his disreputable but dangerous party). The day before polling, one had occupied the seat of Deputy Prime Minister, the other believing that he was within reach of leading a new government, but by lunchtime the following day, they had lost or resigned their posts. Hopes dashed, aspirations crushed, their future as political leaders killed by what felt like a military operation, a very carefully and skilfully handled plan, overseen by an Australian political adviser, Lynton Crosby, whose tactics of fear, intimidation and character assassination of opponents had won the day and recorded a resounding victory. The taking out of the Opposition’s most senior commanders, Ed Balls and Douglas Alexander, was a brilliant strategy and one that succeeded. Heads rolled and a generation of Opposition leaders and shapers were hung, drawn and gutted.

    

Labour, if it can humbly learn from the disaster of the election, restore to its roots and foundational values, can, I believe, return one day to mount something of a challenge to the government. As for the Liberal Democrats, I am not sure that they will be able to rebuild from the ruins and rubble of their almost total annihilation. The Bible reminds us that, “we reap what we sow” and the seeds of their catastrophic defeat were sown five years ago when they entered coalition with the Conservative party. I do not buy the line, that they did so, “for the national interest”. The party that had spent nearly 100 years contending for the principles of liberalism and were definitely to the left of centre, arguably more socialist in outlook than New Labour, abandoned their values and principles in an act of political opportunism. By entering into a coalition with a right-wing party they sold their political soul. Seeing and seizing the opportunity for power, they have paid very dearly for such a decision. Essentially, they broke trust, not just with the electorate over things like tuition fees, but with their party, the ranks of men and women who had worked so hard for the cause of liberalism and who had built up considerable influence in local constituencies that provided the bedrock for the emergence of a relatively strong opposition Liberal Democrat Party. That party, whose voice was both legitimate and needed, is now decimated. As the vast ranks of Conservative MPs occupy the corridors of power, looking out on a defeated and severely wounded Labour Party, derision is lauded upon their once coalition partners, whose Parliamentary party at Westminstercould hold their meeting in a broom cupboard. They have lost nearly everything; their values, influence, leaders and are virtually bankrupt financially. Apparently they lost nearly £200,000 in forfeited deposits and as such will no longer qualify for any parliamentary subsidies. Their funding base has all but gone.

The fallout, demise and moratoriums that will accompany the election defeat for Labour and the Liberal Democrats will roll on for months. For Labour, the disbelief, anger and recriminations have begun. Whether the party can re-emerge without losing its soul remains to be seen. The Spinmeisters, centre ground, neo-conservative, free-market capitalists like Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson and a new generation of aspiring centrist members of the party, will argue strongly for a reverting back to the methodology of New Labour. They will point to the dismal failure of Ed Miliband and the moribund ‘socialist’ policies that were soundly rejected by the electorate last week. It will be very difficult for those on the left of the party to reconfigure and reimagine socialist principles that can capture the imagination, inspire and win over the hearts and minds of a society now so steeped in self-interest, protectionism, consumerism and free-market policies that does little to alleviate poverty or promote a more just, caring and equitable society, which looks to play a generous and compassionate role within the wider world.

In the aftermath of a ‘dirty war’ that did little for the cause of democracy, I feel sickened by the prospect of five years under this newly formed government. I have a sense of foreboding as I contemplate the future for the poor, marginalised and most vulnerable in our society.

 

‘Little England’ has triumphed and with it, an almost irreversible road to the breakup of the United Kingdom, a withdrawing or at least damaging relationship with the European Union that undermines its incredible achievements in keeping peace for over 60 years. I began writing this on the day Britain was commemorating VE Day, an end of war in Europe. If the new Government succeeds in pushing through its proposed legislation I believe it will contribute to the potential disintegration of the EU and the escalation of tensions between Russia and the West. It reveals a worrying blindness or worse, an indifference to the implications of our weakening the European Union on vulnerable countries like Ukraine, Lithuania and other former Soviet territories living now under the shadow of a dangerous, clever yet paranoid president Putin and the wickedness of a Russian regime that threatens war on an unprecedented scale.

A ‘little England’ self-interest, consumerist, parochial society does not auger well for Britain, Europe and the rest of the world.

I would love us to have a proper debate on Europe but it is a forlorn hope that such an informed debate will happen. The right wing press, determined to see us leave the European Union will throw everything it can to influence readers and shape opinions.

Critical questions will be skated over superficially. Issues of identity questions about Britain’s place in the world, where we belong, are we one with others or do we stand alone? The Liberal Democrats who were set to lead the pro-European case have all but gone the Labour Party will struggle to regroup and marshal its resources for the Herculean fight against vested interests, determined to damage and break up the European Union. UKIP, even with the shambolic, and at times disgraceful attitudes and behaviour of its party members, post-election, will nevertheless be heartened that they won over 12.5% of votes cast in the election and they will be salivating at the prospect of an ‘in-out’ referendum.

Nearer to home, quite literally for those of us who live so close to the Scottish border is the battle that looms over the Union that has bound our nations together within the United Kingdom. The SNP are now the third largest party and force in British politics. Their success in the General election and their presence in Westminster will bring about, and where necessary force transformative changes. It will be difficult to reverse the momentum for independence, fuelled by neglect and indifference by other parties and a movement that has some very skilful and seemingly creditable leaders. I find it so interesting, (and I suspect some media and political manipulation occurred) in the way in which Nicola Sturgeon was hailed as the great hero of the television political debates and yet the prospect of her having an influence with the Labour Party and God forbid, those two parties forming a coalition to temper the austerity measures, particularly upon those most weak and vulnerable in society, was enough to terrify UK voters as they went into the polling booths. The tactics of fear and intimidation, carefully orchestrated, very skillfully won the day, but the lady and her party have not gone away and it very much suits their plans and purposes to be in opposition to the present government. As they said of another formidable politician, “the lady’s not for turning” and Nicola Sturgeon, will I believe, not only continue to persuade but convince people of the need for Scotland to leave the UK. She will be aided in this quest by the ‘in out’ referendum on Europe and any talk of Britain leaving the EU will only serve the purposes of Scottish nationalism further. The conditions for the separation of Scotland from the UK could not be more fertile; a return to the context of the 1980s and 90s that led to devolution, when Scotland was ruled by an English Tory government for which it did not vote. The Conservatives in office and with the SNP rampant north of the border is the worst possible scenario for Britain’s exit from the European Union and Scotland’s exit from the UK.

  

I do have sympathy with the Scottish nation and feel that there are many grounds upon which it has just and good cause to strive for independence. However I do fear the breakup of the Union, partly because of a real aversion to any trace of sectarianism and nationalism that creates enmity between peoples, that builds barriers and borders not bridges.

David Cameron won and, defying all the pollsters expectations, has won with a majority. Amidst his pleasure in succeeding, the spoils of victory have with them seeds of much discontent. I pray for him and his government as they lead a divided kingdom. It will be no easy task. I listened to a former Cabinet minister speaking on the radio after the election, declaring quite openly, that they had envisaged and planned to be back in some form of coalition government. They had anticipated that in such a coalition they would have been able to have be seen to have to compromise and retract from some of the promises that were made in the run-up to the election. They could blame a failure to deliver on their coalition partners, just as they and the Liberal Democrats had done in the previous parliament. But no, they now have a working majority and they have made promises to the electorate that, quite frankly, they are not going to be able to deliver on a whole number of fronts. That failure to deliver only fuels the cause of their opponents, not least the SNP, who will continue to press for the fulfilment of promises made in the run-up to the Scottish Referendum and the General election.

There is of course the opportunity for some fresh, imaginative thinking that might reconfigure how the UK is governed and I hope that there will be discussions on issues of federalism that might yet provide the basis of a more just, equitable and fair society, that lives well and respectful of its neighbours, different nations within one Union.

It will take some doing because the gap between Scotland and England appears as deep and wide as I have ever known it in my lifetime. Politically, SNP painted the map yellow with its message of anti-austerity. Yet it was the Conservative parties promise of continued fiscal measures that prevailed in England. The challenge for Labour is that as it regroups it must attempt to address how it can relate to two seemingly contradictory positions. The Prime Minister, in his victory speech, promised to ” bring our country together“.

I recall similar sentiments on the steps of number 10 Downing Street back in 1979. Margaret Thatcher, quoting St Francis, “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.” My long interest in politics turned to involvement back in the 1980s, as I saw the people and communities of the north-east, where I was serving as a pioneering church pastor, ravaged, damaged and destroyed by her policies.

  

 

 

 

Poverty went up under Thatcher’s reign as Prime Minister. In 1979, 13.4% of the population lived below 60% of median incomes before housing costs. By 1990, it had gone up to 22.2%, or 12.2m people, with huge rises in the mid-1980s.There was anything but hope, truth or harmony for many people. The gap between rich and poor widened, the country’s assets were sold off and our manufacturing base was dismantled and our natural resources which could literally could have fuelled and fed, with investment, the nation, were shut down,leaving communities devastated. When you’ve observed and lived through the experience of sharing with people in an area that went from 14% to over 40% unemployment, you have a deeper appreciation of why politics matters.

The problem with so many of our politicians is that they are not close enough to the ground, in touch with people, for whom the consequences of political and economic policies are felt so acutely. When I hear politicians say that we need to, “tighten our belts”, they are doing so from a position of privilege, power and possibilities for them, the vast majority of whom have never known what it really means to struggle, to be poor, to be unable to pay your bills.

   

If you look at the makeup of our politicians in government today you will see the vast majority of them come from privileged backgrounds, have worked in the city, many of them accountants, bankers, financiers and lawyers. Most of them have worked at some time or another within the City of London. Very few come from more ordinary, poorer salariedcontexts. There are a few but not many former teachers for example. There are virtually no politicians who come from working class backgrounds, the shop floor, etc. Thank God there are more women in parliament and hopefully they might bring a more compassionate and caring, nurturing and less hostile, competitive environment in which democracy can flourish and political, economic and social policies can be formed.

The amazing truth of God’s incarnation, Jesus coming into the world, dwelling among us, full of grace and truth, is that he was able to identify with people, with the world. It’s a remarkable inspirational model for all leaders. Servant leadership, characterised by identifying with people, understanding the experience of poverty, powerlessness, exploitation etc, not from some government paper, adviser or speech writer but from actually being in that place, alongside people. Oh, how we need politicians from that place of humility, identification, servanthood and a willingness to lay down one’s life for others. How we need leaders across all spectrums of life and work who posses wisdom, courage and the ability to reconcile and build civil society based up the foundations of compassion, justice and peace.

I was challenged the other week at the Baptist Assembly in Peterborough to write and pray for our newly elected constituency MP’s which I am pleased to say I did, even though they did not receive my vote. The Bible reminds us to pray for those who rule over us, 1 Timothy 2:2 and boy do they need it.

The £12 billion cuts to benefits are so grim a prospect that the Government would not be drawn on where they would be implemented. If the Government does stick to its election promises we will see the Human Right Act removed, areas of the NHS will be steadily propelled into the private sector, the right wing press will be rewarded for its backing of the Conservatives and in the newly appointed Minister of Culture, their desire for the pruning of the BBC has already begun. Cuts on unprecedented scales will deceimate some areas of Public services. More zero hours will be evidenced and according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, nearly 1.5 million jobs will go in the public sector and the number of people in self employment will be higher than those working in pubic services by the end of this government’s term of office in 2020. Public sector pay is anticipated to fall by 10% behind the private sector, while death duties and top wage earners will see their taxes cut. The future is not rosy for many people.

In such a potentially divisive context the role of any follower of Christ demands both prayer and action.

I spoke recently at a church anniversary weekend on the outskirts of Bristol. The church had been founded during a period when non conformists were persecuted for defying both the Established Church and the State, which they saw as contravening the ways of God.

I am certainly not advocating persecution and suffering but a bit of non conformity would not go amiss when policies contravene the nature of God and the well-being of society and the wider world. To take just one example; thank God for people like the Bishop of Manchester who has denounced the Government’s proposal to extend and force housing associations to sell their homes to tenants. He spoke of the “immorality” of such an intention and described the plans as the “most blatant transfer of charity assets to private ownership since Henry VIII sold off the monasteries.” He and other Bishops have warned that democracy was failing and condemned a “growing appetite” to exploit grievances and find scapegoats.

 

I hope that growing numbers of Christians will recover their spiritual and political nerve and speak out for the voiceless, vulnerable and powerless. Or, to conclude as others have put it:

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization. Samuel Johnson

The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. ” Hubert H. Humphrey

A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying. Pope John Paul II

The General Election: Politics and Religion Do Mix!

When people tell me that the Bible has nothing to do with politics, I ask them, “Which Bible are you talking about?” Desmond Tutu.

  

Politics and religion do mix, they are about life and page after page of Scripture reveals God’s desire and purposes for the world, including how we live and relate to one another, which includes issues of governance.

We celebrate and give thanks to God for the transformation that knowing Christ brings to life but that transformation shouldn’t stop at the boundaries of our personal lives. When the Apostle Paul writes to the believers in Colossae he reminds them of the supremacy of Christ and how all things are held together in him. Every aspect of God’s creation can be transformed by Christ; business, economics, arts, media, education, religion, family and community life, how we use the land and treat livestock, relate to one another and the wider world, which of course includes politics.

Theologians talk about the ‘creation mandate’, the call to reflect God’s image in our lives; how we care for one another and the world. From the opening chapters of Genesis we see principles and patterns that God decrees for his world: giving rather than taking, loving rather than hating, accepting the responsibility to be ‘my brother’s keeper’ instead of selfishness; of how we are to seek peace, putting others above ourselves, stewarding our time and resources for the common good, protecting and promoting the importance of marriage, parenthood, family life, and community. We are called to understand and embrace the co-dependency between freedom and responsibility and between justice and mercy.

If you want to read the most revolutionary manifesto the world has ever seen, take a look at Jesus Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 5~8).

Throughout Scripture, there are over 2,500 reminders of God’s heart for the poor and our responsibility to care, to speak up for the marginalised, to proclaim righteousness and justice, showing mercy and compassion. They tell us very clearly that judgement will come upon all those who develop vested interests and oppress and exclude the poor; we are warned about the inherent danger wealth and power can bring, that taxes must be set fairly and collected with honesty. We are told that peace and reconciliation are priorities in God’s agenda for the world, to love our enemies, that vengeance has no place in justice, that good covenantal relationships of trust and respect, fairness and honesty are more important than contracts, both personally and societally.

The Scriptures remind us that we are called not only to love God but to love our neighbour, that leadership should be characterised by faithfulness, integrity, compassion and justice; that human rights and civil liberties are important and why transparency and accountability are important and serving, as a virtue, along with forgiveness is essential in all human relationships.

So it’s ridiculous to claim that politics and religion don’t mix. Those who create a sacred and secular divide have formulated a false dichotomy and fail to grasp what the Psalmist declared; The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, Psalm 24:1.

George Austin, the former Archbishop of York said, For the Christian, to mix religion and politics is not an option; it is an obligation. Certainly this was understood by Christians of previous generations, many of whom, inspired by their faith, were founders and key figures within their political parties. The Labour Party was formed by a fusion of unions and Christian Socialists, whose early party meetings were held in chapels. I remember working in the summer holidays for the local newspaper when we were at college and it was during a period of industrial unrest and many walk-outs and 1 day strikes. We would have to ‘down tools’ and meet for our Sogat Union ‘chapel’ meeting to discuss, mostly hotly debate what action to take against the management who were forcing changes without proper consulation with Union reps. Some members refused to work on a computer, saying it would never replace hot metal printing! In the 1920s over a quarter of Labour MPs were Methodist lay preachers. Go back over 200 years and you see people like William Wilberforce, one of the most influential figures in the Conservative party’s history, compelled by his faith to work for the abolition of slavery. Or William Gladstone, an evangelical Christian and leader of the Liberal party that was largely made up of nonconformists. Saunders Lewis, the founder of Plaid Cymru, was inspired by his faith. I have been inspired by the life and work Marti Luther King, who receiving his honorary doctorate at Newcastle university was presented to the chancellor as a Christian pastor and social revolutionary.

   

It’s been my privilege over a number of years to attend the National Prayer Breakfast, hosted by the Speaker of the House in recognition of the contribution that Christianity makes to our national life. On this and other occasions where I have been in Westminster, I’m struck by the number of Christians, across all the mainline political parties, who are in politics because of their Christian belief, their faith motivating their work as politicians. Walk around the Houses of Parliament and you are aware that Christianity has shaped the democracy we now have. The Judaeo-Christian values that have had a profound influence on the governance of our country are much in evidence. In its architecture, you see angels looking down on parliamentarians from every angle in many parts of the palace of Westminster. They remind anyone passing below where the real authority lies and to whom everyone will one day give account, God himself. At the top of Westminster Hall there is a huge, dramatic painting of an early piece of legislation. It depicts Moses receiving the stone tablets on which the 10 Commandments were written. How I wish that modern parliamentarians might acknowledge the living God from whom comes laws that bring blessing to the nations and reflect his heart of love and compassion for the world, where justice and righteousness, peace, healing and a true sense of well-being are realised in society.

The first words that are uttered at the beginning of each new day are those of the Speakers chaplain. They are a prayer, which we may wish to use ourselves in the run-up to this general election: Lord, the God of righteousness and truth, grant to our Queen and her government, to Members of Parliament and all in positions of responsibility, the guidance of your Spirit. May they never lead the nation wrongly through love of power, desire to please, or unworthy ideals but laying aside all private interests and prejudices keep in mind their responsibility to seek to improve the condition of all mankind; so may your kingdom come and your name be hallowed. Amen.

I remember hearing about the scripture that was read first thing in Parliament on the day when it was later announced that the stock markets had crashed and we were entering a major global recession. Exodus 22:25, If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest.

It was Martin Luther King who said that Christians are very good at being the good Samaritan, tending and caring for the man who was beaten up. What we are more reticent about is getting involved and going back up the Jericho Road and addressing the cause of him being robbed and wounded.

We can think of the remarkable involvement of churches in the establishment of hundreds of food banks throughout Britain. But they are less engaged in addressing the social, economic circumstances and political policies that require almost 1million people to be dependent upon food banks today. Christians and the churches are doing some remarkable things in treating the victims of a society where there is an alarming, increasing gap between rich and poor. Food banks, debt counselling services, childrens, youth and family ministries, reaching out and relating to asylum seekers, the lonely, sick, vulnerable and elderly but we need to awaken our prophetic voice to speak out at injustice, exploitation and a disregard for the poor.

Politics matters and voting in a General election, is I believe, both a duty and an incredible privilege. When people say voting doesn’t matter, we should think of those many countries throughout the world where people are denied a vote, where there is no trace of democracy, in contexts where their governments are not held in anyway accountable and can quite literally get away with murder.

Who and how we vote is a personal matter but as Christians our choices should be governed by those policies that we believe best reflect the nature of God and his ways for the world. For example, any party that proposed a cut in foreign aid, that failed to welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, shelter the refugee and care for the widow and orphan would find their policy not only at odds with the ways of God but subject to his judgement, (see Jesus words in Matthew 25:31-47)

The lines are now being drawn on the difference between the various parties contending this election. They are not all the same! We have the opportunity to reflect not only on the policies but the values undergirding their manifestos and plans.

What has not surprised but nevertheless disappointed me is the political mud slinging and the personal attacks on the leaders. In contrast it was so refreshing to see how the three women on the leaders debate refrained from such an approach. It is sad to see other parties using people like Lynton Crosby, renowned as a “master of the dark political arts” governing election strategy for the Conservatives. His masterminding of Michael Fallon’s deeply personal and dishonourable attack on Ed Miliband reached levels of ‘scum politics’ that I have rarely witnessed before in British politics. Regardless of party allegiance, I am glad that such a panic provoked attack rebounded on him and the party and only served to lift the Labour leaders poll ratings and arouse suspicious of a Conservative party that has had to play down claims of it being the “nasty party”. I felt the same revulsion when looking at the video that was released within two hours of Hillary Clinton announcing her intention to run for the US Presidency in 2016. She is loved and loathed by Americans but the vitriol that is being served up in the opening salvos following her announcement is a poor reflection of the nation. The obscene amounts of money that is spent on the US Presidential campaigns is staggering. For example, the Koch brothers, part of the second largest privately owned company in the USA yesterday pledged 1 million dollars to oppose Clinton’s campaign, pledging to do everything to “bring her down”. The fact that she and other Democrats opposed their expansionist policies that are damaging to the environment with their oil into gasoline programmes, evoking their anger. When corporate forces attempt to buy our democracy, we are in trouble. I would certainly favour here in Britain, parties being funded by the public purse, enabling a level playing ground.

   

Labour’s failed attempt to win the last general election was fought on a budget of £8million, a £10m drop compared with the 2005 election when they won. The Conservatives spent £16.7 million and with the help of the Liberal Democrats came into power. This time the Conservatives are expected to spend double the amount of what Labour spends on their campaign. You can see evidence all around us here in Northumberland, (our constituency is predicted to probably change hands) where a huge and expensive poster campaign is ‘littering’ the countryside.

Add to this the continuing, and baleful influence of Britain’s press proprietors and editors. The media is a big influence on how people think about politicians and politics generally. Broadcasters and bloggers tend to respond to the stimulus of news that originates in newspapers as the material that appears most often in the main current affairs programmes on televison and radio, plus phone-ins and twitter feeds, are almost always based on follow-ups to stories in the national press.

Remember the the years leading up to the 1992 election; the Labour’s leader, Neil Kinnock, suffered horrendous vitriolic, negative coverage. The final assault on Kinnock’s character, which cost him a poll victory, was the culmination of that process.

Similarly, Gordon Brown’s defeat was assured by highly critical press coverage well before he ever called the election in 2010.

Likewise Ed Miliband is portrayed very poorly by the media generally. He can’t even eat a bacon sandwich, how then could he run the country? He stabbed his brother in the back, he’ll do the same to the country! Headline Daily Mail last Thursday “Red Ed’s very tangled love life”. An ‘exclusive’ that exposed Mr Militant’s rather uncomplicated, arguably boring love life before he met current “partner” Justine, (note the Mail’s bias to its readers; suggesting poor moral standards, i.e. he is not married, whereas I fact he is!). The headlines suggested a sex scandal whereas it was in reality a non story; an unmarried man dates numerous unmarried women, but not all at once. Women revealed, in some cases, to be university pals, colleagues and mutual friends. Not very “tangled” at all. The Daily Telegraph, which I would have expected better of, ran a story and published a picture of former BBC Newsnight economics editor Stephanie Flanders, who Miliband dated whilst he was working at the Treasury. Wow! Breaking news sensation! On an altogether more distasteful note was last week’s Mail on Sunday actions in sending two of their senior reporters to question guests at a private memorial service at Guy’s Hospital in London, for Ed Miliband’s uncle. The reporters were attempting to dig the dirt on Miliband, particularly stirring up the accusations that the Daily Mail had made last year about the Labour leader’s father, Ralph Miliband, branded by the paper as, “the man who hated Britain”. The paper’s editorial that day describing Miliband’s father’s legacy as, “evil”. Outrageous, unfounded accusations about someone who fought for Britain in the Second World War and took up the fight for democracy following it. The Daily Mail, we need to remind ourselves comes from the far right of the political spectrum and reader beware, was an enthusiastic supporter of fascism in the lead up to the Second World War. Occasionally I have to buy the Daily Mail on behalf of someone else when I shop for them. I almost feel like putting on a pair of protective gloves to keep me from the overflowing bile that spills out across most of its pages. Read the Daily Mail and you would think there was nothing good about modern Britain, that no pensioner is safe to step outside their houses without the fear of being beaten up, that our problems are down to immigration, working mothers and anyone who takes a centre or leftwing view of politics. To attempt to use a private memorial service of Miliband’s uncle, Prof Harry keen, was to my mind despicable. Attention should have been given to Keen, who was a medical pioneer, whose work led to the early diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. Instead, attention was focused on two disrespectful and irresponsible Daily Mail reporters, looking for a story to blacken the name of a political leader in the run-up to the general election.

But why these stories? Because behind them are newspaper owners who are desperate not to have anything but a right wing government in power. 78% of our press is owned by a handful of mostly foreign-based, non dom billionaires. Between them, Rupert Mudoch and Lord Rothermere own over 50% of our national press. Of course they are going to demonise or run down Ed Miliband, Nicola Sturgeon and, if they were seen to be a credible threat, would trounce the Green Party more than they are currently doing. Why?, Because these parties are diametrically opposed to the free market capitalist wealth culture of those billionaires whose lifestyle is dependent upon keeping the status quo. Too often, far from protecting our democracy, their papers subvert it. The ethos and direction of a newspaper is set by its owner. Press barons wield power and influence their editors commissioning and publishing of stories to further their own interests. Since 2010, the press barons have pushed the argument that there is no alternative to austerity, wealthy billionaires whose lives are barely touched by such measures. They have largely ignored the stories which tell of the alarming, increasing gap between rich and poor and the widening social divisions in our society.

I came across a staggering source of information recently that detailed the power, influence and wealth that these billionaires exert over politicians and the electorate.

UK press weekly print and on-line readership (for papers over 1 million):

Newspaper(s)	Combined print and online readership(In brackets print alone)	Effective owner/s	Information about effective owner/s	Political orientation of newspaper/s
The Sun/The Sun on Sunday	13,674,000(12,765,000)	Rupert Murdoch	Billionaire. Lives in US.Alleged tax avoider.	Supported Tories in 2010
The Mail/ Mail on Sunday	12,188,000(9,534,000)	Lord Rothermere	Billionaire. Lives in France.Non-domiciled for UK tax	Supported Tories in 2010
Metro	7,986,000(7,597,000)	Lord Rothermere	Billionaire. Lives in France.Non-domiciled for UK tax	Supported Tories in 2010
Mirror/Sunday Mirror/ People	7,874,000(7,063,000)	Trinity Mirror plc	Public Limited Company	Supported Labour in 2010
The Guardian/The Observer	5,342,000(2,898,000)	Scott Trust Ltd	A company with purpose “to secure  Guardian’s independence”	Supported Lib Dems in 2010
Telegraph/ Sunday Telegraph	4,998,000(3,128,000)	David and Frederick Barclay	Billionaires. Live on private island near Sark.Alleged tax avoiders.	Supported Tories in 2010
The Times/ Sunday Times	4,608,000(4,418,000)	Rupert Murdoch	Billionaire. Lives in US.Alleged tax avoider.	Supported Tories in 2010
The Independent/ i/Independent on Sunday	4,002,000(2,770,000)	Alexander (father)and Evgeny (son) Lebedev	Alexander is a billionaire, ex-KGB and lives in Russia. Evgeny lives in the UK	Supported anti-Tory tactical voting in 2010
London Evening Standard	3,850,000(3,443,000)	Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev	Alexander is billionaire, ex-KGB and lives in Russia. Evgeny lives in UK	Supported Tories in 2010
Daily Express/Sunday Express	3,118,000(2,756,000)	Richard Desmond	BillionaireAlleged tax avoider.	Supported Tories in 2010
Daily Star/Daily Star Sunday	2,972,000(2,873,000)	Richard Desmond	BillionaireAlleged tax avoider.	Supported Tories in 2010
Daily Record/ Sunday Mail	1,719,000(1,527,000)	Trinity Mirror plc	Public limited company	Supported Labour in 2010
Financial Times	1,339,000(928,000)	Pearson plc	Public limited company	Supported Tories in 2010
TOTALS	73,670,000(61,700,000)

Well, it certainly opened my eyes to the forces at work manipulating, exploiting and spinning stories to achieve less than democratic ends. It could make you angry, disillusioned, apathetic and much more but that said, I will be voting. Does it matter? Absolutely! We should do so prayerfully, carefully and wisely, basing our decision not on self interest or personal gain but for the common good and for politicians and policies that reflect the ways of God. The catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that as citizens we have a duty to work with civil authority for the building up of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity and freedom. By voting, we have a chance to promote such values.

Voting makes a difference just as a grain of salt makes a difference, and is one way, as Christians, we are able to influence our society for good. Voting is a privilege we shouldn’t take for granted and by not voting we will influence the outcome. By casting our vote we are exercising our stewardship and responsibility to use all the resources we have been given by God; to waste a vote is to squander a gift.

I hope to have encouraged you to pray, think and more actively engage with the issues that face us in this forthcoming General Election, together with the forces and influences that shape and in some ways undermine our democratic system. These are challenging days. Make your vote count!

Take care

Roy